Laharl
Laharl is a recurring character in the Disgaea series. Arrogant and self-centred, Laharl attempts to maintain the attitude of a typical demon. He is actually a half-demon, due to his mother being a human. He is known for his evil laugh which is heard numerous times throughout the series. The first game in the series, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness chronicles his attempt to inherit his title of Overlord after the death of his father, King Krichevskoy, and his eventual discovery of love. History Laharl is the son of King Krichevskoy, ruler of the Netherworld. However, after awakening from a two year slumber, he discovers that his father is dead and almost all of his vassals are gone - most of them are, in fact, trying to take Laharl's place, rather than serving him. As the rightful heir to the throne, Laharl sets out to take the throne by force with his vassal Etna's help, and proclaim himself as the true Overlord of the Netherworld. He begins by crashing the house of a nearby demon Vyers, "the Dark Adonis", defeating the newly christened "Mid Boss" as the first stepping stone on the path to the throne - a path to be built of his defeated foes. However, his plans are interrupted by the appearance of the angel trainee Flonne, sent from Celestia to assassinate (the late) King Krichevskoy. Chasing the would-be assassin, he eventually manages to corner and defeat her. Laharl then informs her about her target's death, and upon learning of Laharl's lack of grief for his father's demise, Flonne joins his party to study demon nature and threatens that, if in need, she will switch her target. Flonne is at first discouraged by his evil behaviour: crashing another demon's house, pillaging it, and then preparing to kill the house's owner, Hoggmeiser, one of Krichevskoy's former vassals. However, Laharl chooses to spare Hoggmeiser when his son, Porkmeiser appears to defend him, leading Flonne to believe that his heart is indeed capable of love. When Vulcanus, a stubborn angel, steals Flonne's pendant, which angel trainees need to survive in the Netherworld, Laharl is enticed by Flonne's promise of "something good" to go and find it. The group finally track it down to Vyers and defeat him once again, recovering the pendant. At this time, Laharl is relieved to find that the pendant burns him, meaning that his heart is wicked. Etna praises Flonne for deceiving the Prince, as her "something good" was giving Laharl the chance to see the kindness in his heart. Even after Laharl is crowned the new Overlord half way through the game, he is still referred to as "Prince" by Etna and all those who still remain in the Overlord's Castle, probably out of habit (although there are hints that several of Laharl's vassals do not see him as worthy enough to replace his father as Overlord). It is also shown that Laharl has incredible power within him that he unleashed only when the Seraph had turned Flonne into a flower. It could be that his true power is being held back by his human-half, and only releases the power when he's feeling incredible rage. In general, the accepted ending is the good ending, in which Laharl spares Lamington's life and is stopped by Mid Boss before he sacrifices himself, allowing him to see Flonne become a Fallen Angel. Personality Laharl is incredibly arrogant as well as snarky and always tries to prove that he is the strongest demon in the Netherworld. He is, however, extremely powerful for his appearance, which, despite his age, is still that of a small human child (his large hair antennae and billowing scarf are meant to mask this fact). However, he has a weakness towards (as in, he literally gets hurt by) optimistic sayings (especially anything concerning the word 'love') and women with sexy bodies. Maderas took advantage of both weaknesses in both the game and the anime by having pretty girls say optimistic things (succubi in the game and miscellaneous pretty demon girls in the anime). He claims that Flonne and Etna don't bother him since they're flat-chested, something which they obviously take as an insult. He appears to have gotten over his aversion in his later appearances, as he isn't bothered by Rozalin's revealing outfit (Although a conversation with Machiko in Disgaea 3 after being recruited shows he's still highly nervous around them). Although Laharl considers himself evil, he never does anything that may be considered truly immoral. He only briefly considers doing anything to the Earth, and the only things he can think of are making it rain pepper and giving kids an addicting video game. Laharl also loves to laugh evilly, believing it is an important part of being the Overlord. Even when towards the end of the first game when Laharl has clearly turned good, he still continues acting like he's evil, except for when Lammington turns Flonne into a flower. At that he point he displays outright hate for the Seraph, believing that he turned on Flonne after she believed in him. This is, and in the normal ending where Laharl sacrifices his life to revive Flonne, are the only times he admits to caring about her, any other time he denies doing so. It is strongly implied that he harbors romantic feelings for Flonne because the only way to cast the revival spell that takes the user's life is if the user has love for the person he/she revives, similar to how Laharl's mother took her own life to cure Laharl's deadly disease. This is the reason Laharl rejects love and thinks love is useless because it was the cause of his mother's sacrifice. In Laharl's future appearances, he maintains his ego and view that he is evil, and displays outrage whenever he isn't the main character, and attempts to take the role from whoever it happens to be at the time. His obsession with this is perhaps best shown when he appears in Disgaea 3, where he accuses Mao of being the "Legendary Overlord" that stole from him, but reveals after fighting him that he knew it was really Baal and only accused him just so he could increase his screen time. In Disgaea 4, Laharl again appears in the post-game, wanting to become the new protagonist of the story and take over the Presidency from the challengers aiming to get at it, after Axel, Raspberyl, and others try to take it. He loses against Valvatorez and his party, and joins the party, supposedly to increase the time he spends on-screen. Gameplay Style Laharl is the usual "Hard-Hitting Warrior" character. His attack stat and aptitude are both high to suit this. His default weapon is the sword, making Laharl flexible and easy to level due to the Sword Skill "Winged Slayer" (or "Slayer's Descent" in the third game). His unique special skills are Blazing Knuckle, Overlord's Wrath, and Meteor Impact. In Disgaea D2, however, he learns a new move (albeit at a very high level) called Overlord Dimension. Laharl can wield any melee weapon with ease however, as he has a Mastery of "A" in every weapon except for Guns and Staves. Gallery Category:Disgaea Characters Category:PlayStation 2 Debut Category:All Characters